Street Fighter made its debut in the arcades in 1987. It was designed by Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto. The player took control of martial artist Ryu, who competed in a worldwide martial arts tournament, spanning five countries and ten opponents. A second player could join in at any time and take control of Ryu's rival, Ken.

The player could perform three types of punch and kick attacks (which varied in speed and strength) and three special attacks: the Hadouken, Shoryuken and Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku. These were performed by executing special button combinations with the controls.

Street Fighter was ported to many popular home computer systems of the time including PC. In 1988, it was released on the NEC Avenue TurboGrafx-CD console under the new name Fighting Street. Street Fighter was later included in Capcom Classics Collection: Remixed for the PlayStation Portable and Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.
Street Fighter II series (1991)
Main article: Street Fighter II
Guile defeats Ken by using his Flash Kick in Street Fighter II

Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, released in 1991, was the first true sequel to the original Street Fighter, following an unsuccessful attempt to brand the 1989 beat 'em up game Final Fight as a Street Fighter sequel, and an officially commissioned spin-off Human Killing Machine on the ZX Spectrum, Amiga and other home computers.[7][8] It was one of the earliest arcade games for Capcom's CP System hardware and was designed by Akira Nishitani (Nin-Nin) and Akira Yasuda (Akiman), who were previously responsible for Final Fight and Forgotten Worlds.

Street Fighter II was the first one-on-one fighting game to give players a choice from a variety of player characters with different moves, an option which created hitherto unknown levels of depth and replay value for an arcade game.[citation needed] Each player character had a fighting style with approximately 30 or more moves (including then-new grappling moves such as throws) as well as two or three special attacks per character. In the single-player mode, the player's chosen character is pitted sequentially against the seven other main characters before confronting the final four 'boss' opponents, who were CPU-controlled characters not selectable by the player. As in the original, a second player could join in at any point during single player mode and compete against the other player in competitive matches, with the multiple available characters allowing for more varied matches.

The original Japanese version of Street Fighter II introduced an African-American boxer boss character, a parody of real-life boxer Mike Tyson. In order to avoid any likeness infringement lawsuit from Tyson, Capcom rotated the names of three of the boss characters for international versions of the game.[9] The final boss, called Vega in the Japanese version, was given the M. Bison name; the talon-wielding Spanish warrior known as Balrog in the Japanese version was renamed Vega; and the boxer became Balrog.

Street Fighter II eclipsed its predecessor in popularity, eventually turning Street Fighter into a multimedia franchise.[10] The release of the game had an unexpected impact on gaming and was the beginning of a massive phenomenon. By 1993, sales of Street Fighter II exceeded $1.5 billion in revenue,[6] equivalent to $2.32 billion in 2011.[11]

The first official update to the series was Street Fighter II: Champion Edition (pronounced Street Fighter II Dash in Japan, as noted by the prime notation on the logo), which allowed players to play as the Four Devas (the computer-controlled boss characters) and also allowed two players to choose the same character (with one character drawn in an alternate color pattern). The game also featured slightly improved graphics (including differently colored backgrounds) and refined gameplay. A second upgrade, titled Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting (or Street Fighter II Dash Turbo in Japan), was produced in response to the various bootleg editions of the game. Hyper Fighting offered faster gameplay than its predecessors, different character colors and new special techniques.

Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers, the third revision, gave the game a complete graphical and musical overhaul and introduced four new playable characters. It was also the first game for Capcom’s CP System II arcade hardware. The fifth and final arcade installment, Super Street Fighter II Turbo (Super Street Fighter II X in Japan) brought back the faster gameplay of Hyper Fighting, a new type of special techniques known as "Super Combos" and a hidden character, Akuma.

Numerous home versions of the Street Fighter II games have been produced following the original game. The original Street Fighter II was ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992. As of 2008, the original SNES game is still Capcom's best-selling game.[12] It was followed by a Japanese-only version of Street Fighter II Dash for the PC Engine in 1993. Hyper Fighting received two different home versions as well in 1993, an SNES version titled Street Fighter II Turbo, and a Sega Genesis counterpart titled Street Fighter II - Special Champion Edition (Street Fighter II Dash Plus in Japan). The following game, Super Street Fighter II, was also ported to the SNES and Genesis in 1994. Later that year, Super Street Fighter II Turbo was released for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, and also appeared in a PC version for Windows (released by the now defunct GameTek).

In 1997, Capcom released the Street Fighter Collection for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn, a compilation which includes Super and Super Turbo, as well as the newer Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold (Street Fighter Zero 2′ in Japan). It was followed by Street Fighter Collection 2 (Capcom Generation Vol. 5 in Japan), also released for the PlayStation and Saturn, which includes the original Street Fighter II, Champion Edition, and Hyper Fighting. In 2000, Capcom released Super Street Fighter II X for Matching Service in Japan for the Dreamcast, a version of the game which featured an online two-player versus mode. In 2003, Capcom released Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition for the arcades in Japan and Asia to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the series, a hybrid version of Super Turbo which allows player to select between versions of characters from all five previous Street Fighter II games. Hyper was released in North America and the PAL region via its ports for the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox (released as part of the Street Fighter Anniversary Collection along with Street Fighter III 3rd Strike). In 2005, the three games in Street Fighter Collection 2 were included Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 1 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. A version of Super Turbo (along with the original Street Fighter) was later included in the 2007 compilation Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2, also released for the PS2 and Xbox. Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II are also available as downloadable games for select cellular phone services.

An updated version of Super Street Fighter II Turbo came to the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade service in November 2008.[13] The game, titled Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, has fully redrawn artwork, including HD sprites 4.5x the original size, done by artists from UDON. This is the first time the Street Fighter characters have new sprites, drawn by Capcom, since Capcom vs. SNK 2 in 2001. The game has several changes which address character balancing issues, but also features the original arcade version gameplay so that players can choose between the two.[14]
Street Fighter Alpha series (1995)
Main article: Street Fighter Alpha
Guy performing an Alpha Counter on Cody's attack in Street Fighter Alpha 3

The interquel Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams (Street Fighter Zero in Japan and Asia) became the next game in the series. The game used the same art style Capcom previously employed in Darkstalkers and X-Men: Children of the Atom, with settings and character designs heavily influenced by Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. Alpha expands on the Super Combo system from Super Turbo, by extending Super Combo meter into three levels (allowing for super combos to be stored up), and also introduces Alpha Counters and Chain Combos (also from Darkstalkers). The plot of Alpha is set between the first two Street Fighter games and fleshes out the back stories and grudges held by many of the classic SF2 characters.[15] It features a playable roster of ten immediately playable characters (and three unlockable fighters), comprising not only younger versions of established Street Fighter II, but also characters from the original Street Fighter and Final Fight such as Adon and Guy.

Street Fighter Alpha 2 features all-new stages, music and endings for some characters (some overlapping with those from the original Alpha).[16]It also discarded the Chain Combo system in favor of Custom Combos (which required a portion of the Super Combo meter to be used). Alpha 2 also retained all 13 characters from the original, adding five new characters to the roster along with hidden versions of returning characters. Alpha 2 was followed by a slightly enhanced arcade release titled Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha and was released in Japan and Brazil, was ported to home consoles as Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold (Zero 2′ Dash in Japan).

The third and final Alpha game, Street Fighter Alpha 3, was released in 1998 (following the release of the original Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact and Street Fighter EX). Alpha 3 introduced three selectable fighting styles and further expanded the playable roster to 28 characters.[17] Console versions of the three games (including the original Alpha 2 and the aforementioned Alpha 2 Gold) were released for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn, although versions of specific games in the series were also released for the Game Boy Color, Super NES, Dreamcast and even Windows. The home console versions of Alpha 3 further expanded the character roster by adding the remaining "New Challengers" from Super Street Fighter II. The Dreamcast version of the game was backported to the arcades in Japan under the title of Street Fighter Zero 3 Upper. A version of Upper (simply titled Alpha 3 outside Japan) was released for the Game Boy Advance and added three characters from Capcom vs. SNK 2. A PlayStation Portable version titled Alpha 3 MAX (or Zero 3 Double Upper in Japan) contains the added characters from the GBA version and Ingrid from Capcom Fighting Jam.
Street Fighter EX series (1996)
Main article: Street Fighter EX
Ryu fighting against Darun in Street Fighter EX 2

In 1996, Capcom co-produced with Arika (a company founded by former Street Fighter II planner Akira Nishitani) a 3D fighting game spinoff of the series titled Street Fighter EX, developed for the PlayStation-based ZN-1 hardware. EX combined the established Street Fighter cast with original characters created and owned by Arika. It was followed by an upgraded version titled Street Fighter EX Plus in 1997, which expanded the character roster. A home version with further additional characters and features, Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha, was released for the PlayStation during the same year.

A sequel was released in 1998, titled Street Fighter EX2, developed for the ZN-2 hardware. Custom combos were reintroduced, and the character roster was expanded upon even further. EX2 also received an upgraded version, Street Fighter EX2 Plus, released in 1999. A PlayStation version of EX2 Plus, was also released.

A third game in the series, Street Fighter EX3, was released as an early title for the PlayStation 2 in 2000. This included a tag team system, a mode that let a single player fight up to three opponents simultaneously, and another new Character Edit mode that allowed players to give a new character Ace a selection of special and super moves after purchasing them with experience points. The cast brought back many characters from the previous game.

Some of the Arika-owned characters from the series were later featured in other games developed by the company. The Namco-distributed arcade game Fighting Layer featured Allen Snider and Blair Dame from the original EX, while Skullomania would reappear in the PlayStation game Fighter Maker, as well as in the PlayStation 2 music game Technictix.
Versus series (1996)
Main articles: Marvel vs. Capcom (series), SNK vs. Capcom (series), Street Fighter X Tekken, and Tekken X Street Fighter

Capcom has also produced fighting games involving licensed characters from other companies and their own properties. In 1994 Capcom released the Marvel-licensed fighting game X-Men: Children of the Atom, which featured Akuma from Super Turbo as a hidden guest character. It was followed by Marvel Super Heroes in 1995, which featured Anita from Night Warriors.

Capcom would release a third Marvel-licensed game, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, in 1996, a full-fledged crossover between characters from X-Men and the Street Fighter Alpha games that featured a two-on-two tag team-based system. It was followed by Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter in 1997, which expanded the roster to include characters from Marvel Super Heroes; Marvel vs. Capcom in 1998, which featured not only Street Fighter characters, but also characters from other Capcom properties; and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 in 2000, which was produced from the Dreamcast-based NAOMI hardware.

Capcom also produced a series of similar crossover fighting games with rival fighting game developer SNK Playmore. The games produced by Capcom includes Capcom vs. SNK in 2000, which features character primarily from the Street Fighter and King of Fighters series. It was followed by a minor upgrade, Capcom vs. SNK Pro; and a sequel titled Capcom vs. SNK 2, both released in 2001. All three games were produced for the NAOMI hardware as well. The SNK-produced fighting games of this crossover includes the Dimps-developed portable fighting game SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium for the Neo Geo Pocket Color in 1999 and SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos for the Neo Geo in 2003.

From 2003 to 2008 the Versus series of Capcom fighting games saw no new releases, though Capcom and Namco produced the crossover tactical role-playing game Namco × Capcom for the PlayStation 2 in 2005. Ryu and Ken are also among the characters playable in 2012's Project X Zone, a tactical role-playing game that draws characters from various Sega, Namco-Bandai, and Capcom franchises.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes, released on December 11, 2008, features characters from both Tatsunoko Production and Capcom properties, including Street Fighter characters Ryu, Chun-Li, and Alex as well as characters like Ken the Eagle of Gatchaman and Casshern of Neo-Human Casshern on Tatsunoko's side. Initially released only in Japan, demand from fans saw the game receive an international release entitled Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars on January 26, 2010.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds was released on February 15, 2011 and includes Akuma, Chun-Li, Crimson Viper, and Ryu. The game features completely new visuals and audio, three-on-three gameplay like previous entries in the series, and online play. The game was also intended to have downloadable content, but the content was disrupted due to an earthquake and tsunami in Tōhoku and released along with additional new content on separate game titled Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

Street Fighter X Tekken was released on March 6, 2012, featuring over 50 playable characters from both the Street Fighter and Tekken fighting franchises. While Street Fighter X Tekken was developed by Capcom, Namco is currently developing their own crossover title, Tekken X Street Fighter.[18]
Street Fighter III series (1997)
Main article: Street Fighter III
Ryu using Shin Shoryuken on Ken in Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact

Street Fighter III: New Generation, made its debut in the arcades on the CPS3 hardware in 1997.[19] Street Fighter III discarded the character roster from previous games (only Ryu and Ken returned), introducing several new characters in their place, most notably the grappler Alex, who was designed to be the new lead character of the game, the popular ninja girl Ibuki, who was planned as compensation for Chun-Li as the female lead, and Gill, who replaced Bison as the game's main antagonist. Street Fighter III introduced the "Super Arts" selection system and the ability to parry an opponent's attack.[20]

Several months after its release, it was followed by Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact, which made adjustments to the gameplay and added two new characters, Hugo and Urien, as well as the return of Akuma and bonus rounds. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, released in 1999, was the third and last iteration of Street Fighter III, bringing back Chun-Li and adding four new characters.

The first two Street Fighter III games were ported to the Dreamcast as a compilation titled Double Impact. Ports of 3rd Strike were released for the Dreamcast as a stand-alone game and then included in the compilation Street Fighter Anniversary Collection for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Gill also became secretly playable on the console version although you can also play as Gill on the arcade version by using Twelve's X.C.O.P.Y. super move. In 2010, Capcom announced Street Fighter III 3rd Strike: Online Edition.[21]
Street Fighter IV series (2008)
Main article: Street Fighter IV
Abel attacking Ryu in Street Fighter IV

The original Street Fighter IV game concept, Street Fighter IV Flashback, never made it past the proposal stage.[22] On October 17, 2007, more than eight years since the release of Street Fighter III 3rd Strike for the arcades, Capcom unveiled Street Fighter IV at a Capcom Gamers Day event in London. Conceived as a direct sequel to the early Street Fighter II games (particularly Super Street Fighter II Turbo), Street Fighter IV features the return of the original 12 world warriors and recurring hidden character Akuma, along with four new characters (as well as a new boss character) in a storyline chronologically set between Street Fighter II and Street Fighter III. The gameplay, while still 2D, features cel-shaded 3D graphics inspired by Japanese sumi-e paintings. The Super Combo system, a Street Fighter mainstay since Super Turbo, returns along with new counter-attacking techniques called "Focus Attacks" ("Saving Attacks" in Japan), as well as new "Ultra Combo" moves, similar to the Rage Gauge seen in games from SNK Playmore.

The arcade version, which runs on the Taito Type X2 hardware, was distributed in Japan on July 2008, with a limited release in North America and the United Kingdom in select arcades in August. A home version was released in the USA and Europe in February 2009, on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and in July 2009 for Windows PC. This features an expanded character roster, as well as all-new animated segments that show each character's backstory, and a training mode similar to the Expert Challenges in Street Fighter EX. The cast includes six characters new to the Street Fighter series. Yoshinori Ono had hinted that the only two Street Fighter II characters absent from the game, Dee Jay and T. Hawk, could be available in the game at a later date. Instead, they were to be included in a whole new version of the game.[23]

On September 28, 2009, Capcom announced Super Street Fighter IV. The game includes ten additional characters including two characters new to the franchise - lithe Korean female villainess Juri and bulky Turkish oil wrestler, Hakan. Capcom implemented character balance adjustments and added second Ultra moves for each character. The game features an improved online experience with new modes of play. The game was released on April 27,[24] 2010 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 at a discounted price point. If a Street Fighter IV savefile is detected on the system of play, two additional character colors (ink and sketch effect) are available.[25]

Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition was released on December 16, 2010 containing all content from the console release, and featuring additional characters including Yang and Yun from Street Fighter III.[26] Seth Killian of Capcom said Arcade Edition was to be the last update to the IV series.[27] On June 15, at E3 2010, a portable conversion of Super Street Fighter IV was confirmed for the Nintendo 3DS. Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition features 3D stereoscopic technology, multiplayer, and all thirty-five characters from the original Super Street Fighter IV release.[28] At Evo 2011, Ono announced that a balance patch for Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition had been approved by Capcom. The patch was free of charge.

"Jack the Giant Killer" is a Cornish fairy tale about a plucky lad who slays a number of giants during King Arthur's reign. The tale is characterized by violence, gore, and blood-letting. Giants are prominent in Cornish folklore and Welsh Bardic lore. Some parallels to elements and incidents in Norse mythology have been detected in the tale, and the trappings of Jack's last adventure with the giant Galigantus suggest parallels with French and Breton fairy tales. Jack's belt is similar to the belt in "The Valiant Little Tailor", and his magical sword, shoes, cap, and cloak are similar to those owned by Tom Thumb or those found in Welsh and Norse mythology.

Neither Jack or his tale are referenced in English literature prior to the eighteenth century, and his story did not appear in print until 1711. It is probable an enterprising publisher assembled a number of anecdotes about giants to form the 1711 tale. One scholar speculates the public had grown weary of King Arthur – the greatest of all giant killers – and Jack was created to fill his shoes. Henry Fielding, John Newbery, Dr. Johnson, Boswell, and William Cowper were familiar with the tale.

In 1962, a feature-length film based on the tale was released starring Kerwin Mathews. The film made extensive use of stop-motion animation in the manner of Ray Harryhausen.

Tales of monsters and heroes are abundant around the world, making the source of "Jack the Giant Killer" difficult to pin down however the ascription of Jack relation to Cornwall suggests a Brythonic (Celtic) origin. The early Welsh tale How Culhwch won Olwen (tentatively dated to c. 1100), set in Arthurian Britain places Arthur as chief among the kings of Britain.[1] The young hero Culhwch ap Cilydd makes his way to his cousin Arthur's court at Celliwig in Cornwall where he demands Olwen as his bride; the beautiful daughter of the giant Ysbaddaden Ben Cawr ('Chief of Giants'). The Giant sets a series of impossible tasks which Arthur's champions Bedwyr and Cai are honour-bound to fulfill before Olwen is released to the lad; and the Giant King must die. Folklorists Iona and Peter Opie have observed in The Classic Fairy Tales (1974) that "the tenor of Jack's tale, and some of the details of more than one of his tricks with which he outwits the giants, have similarities with Norse mythology." An incident between Thor and the giant Skrymir in the Prose Edda of ca. 1220, they note, resembles the incident between Jack and the stomach-slashing Welsh giant. The Opies further note that the Swedish tale of "The Herd-boy and the Giant" shows similarities to the same incident, and "shares an ancestor" with the Grimms's "The Valiant Little Tailor", a tale with wide distribution. According to the Opies, Jack's magical accessories – the cap of knowledge, the cloak of invisibility, the magic sword, and the shoes of swiftness – could have been borrowed from the tale of Tom Thumb or from Norse mythology, however older analogues in British Celtic lore such as Y Mabinogi and the tales of Gwyn Ap Nudd, cognate with the Irish Fionn Mac Cumhaill, suggest that these represent attributes of the earlier Celtic gods such as the shoes associated with triple-headed Lugus; Welsh Lleu Llaw Gyffes of the Fourth Branch, Arthur's invincible sword Caledfwlch and his Mantle of Invisibility Gwenn one of the Thirteen Treasures of Britain mentioned in two of the branches; or the similar cloak of Caswallawn in the Second Branch.[2][3] Ruth B. Bottigheimer observes in The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales that Jack's final adventure with Galigantus was influenced by the "magical devices" of French fairy tales.[4] The Opies conclude that analogues from around the world "offer no surety of Jack's antiquity."[3]

The Opies note that tales of giants were long known in Britain. King Arthur's encounter with the giant of St Michael's Mount - or Mont Saint Michel in Brittany[5] - was related by Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae in 1136, and published by Sir Thomas Malory in 1485 in the fifth chapter of the fifth book of Le Morte d'Arthur:[3]

Then came to [King Arthur] an husbandman ... and told him how there was ... a great giant which had slain, murdered and devoured much people of the country ... [Arthur journeyed to the Mount, discovered the giant roasting dead children,] ... and hailed him, saying ... [A]rise and dress thee, thou glutton, for this day shalt thou die of my hand. Then the glutton anon started up, and took a great club in his hand, and smote at the king that his coronal fell to the earth. And the king hit him again that he carved his belly and cut off his genitours, that his guts and his entrails fell down to the ground. Then the giant threw away his club, and caught the king in his arms that he crushed his ribs ... And then Arthur weltered and wrung, that he was other while under and another time above. And so weltering and wallowing they rolled down the hill till they came to the sea mark, and ever as they so weltered Arthur smote him with his dagger.

Anthropophagic giants are mentioned in The Complaynt of Scotland in 1549, the Opies note, and, in King Lear of 1605, they indicate, Shakespeare alludes to the Fee-fi-fo-fum chant (" ... fie, foh, and fumme, / I smell the blood of a British man"), making it certain he knew a tale of "blood-sniffing giants". Thomas Nashe also alluded to the chant in Have with You to Saffron-Walden, written nine years before King Lear.,[3] the earliest version can be found in The Red Ettin of 1528.[6]

The Opies observe that "no telling of the tale has been recorded in English oral tradition", and that no mention of the tale is made in sixteenth or seventeenth century literature, lending weight to the probability of the tale originating from the oral traditions of the Cornish (and/or Breton) 'droll teller'.[7]
The History of Jack and the Giants

"The History of Jack and the Giants" (the earliest known edition) was published in two parts by J. White of Newcastle in 1711, the Opies indicate, but was not listed in catalogues or inventories of the period nor was Jack one of the folk heroes in the repertoire of Robert Powel, a puppeteer established in Covent Garden. "Jack and the Gyants" however is referenced in The Weekly Comedy of 22 January 1708, according to the Opies, and in the tenth number Terra-Filius in 1721.[3]

As the eighteenth century wore on, Jack became a familiar figure. Research by the Opies indicate that the farce Jack the Giant-Killer was performed at the Haymarket in 1730; that John Newbery printed fictional letters about Jack in A Little Pretty Pocket-Book in 1744; and that a political satire, The last Speech of John Good, vulgarly called Jack the Giant-Queller, was printed ca. 1745.[3] The Opies and Bottigheimer both note that Henry Fielding alluded to Jack in Joseph Andrews (1742); Dr. Johnson admitted to reading the tale; Boswell read the tale in his boyhood; and William Cowper was another who mentioned the tale.[3][4]

In "Jack and Arthur: An Introduction to Jack the Giant Killer", Thomas Green writes that Jack has no place in Cornish folklore, but was created at the beginning of the eighteenth century simply as a framing device for a series of gory, giant-killing adventures. The tales of Arthur precede and inform "Jack the Giant Killer", he notes, but points out that Le Morte d'Arthur had been out of print since 1634 and concludes from this fact that the public had grown weary of Arthur. Jack, he posits, was created to fill Arthur's shoes.[8]

Bottigheimer notes that in the southern Appalachians of America Jack became a generic hero of tales usually adapted from the Brothers Grimm. She points out however that "Jack the Giant Killer" is rendered directly from the chapbooks except the English hasty pudding in the incident of the belly-slashing Welsh giant becomes mush.[4]

Child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim observes in The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales (1976) that children may experience "grown-ups" as frightening giants, but stories such as "Jack" teach them that they can outsmart the giants and can "get the better of them." Bettelheim observes that a parent may be reluctant to read a story to a child about adults being outsmarted by children, but notes that the child understands intuitively that, in reading him the tale, the parent has given his approval for "playing with the idea of getting the better of giants", and of retaliating "in fantasy for the threat which adult dominance entails."[9]
1962 film
Main article: Jack the Giant Killer (1962 film)

In 1962, United Artists released a middle budget film produced by Edward Small and directed by Nathan H. Juran called Jack the Giant Killer. Kerwin Mathews stars as Jack and Torin Thatcher as the sorcerer Pendragon. Jim Stafford of TCM notes that the four men made The 7th Voyage of Sinbad an artistic and commercial triumph in 1958, and hoped Jack would be just as successful. The film performed moderately well at the box office, despite a review in The New York Times that slammed the acting, the dialogue, and the "rubber" monsters.[13] Many would say that the movie was a Ray Harryhausen film, but in truth, it was not. The special effects were handled by, among others, animators Wah Chang, Gene Warren and Jim Danforth. In their defense, they didn't build the models themselves and, therefore, they weren't as mobile as they'd have liked, limiting the model's movements somewhat and reducing the smoothness of the animation.

Stafford points out that the screenplay is based on Cornish folklore, but the plot resembles the damsel in distress theme of 7th Voyage: a hero battles giants and monsters to rescue a princess held captive by a sorcerer. Some elements appear to be borrowed from other films Stafford notes. The disembodied torch-carrying arms, for example, recall those in Cocteau's La Belle et La Bête, the dragon suggests that in Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty, and Pendragon's witches and demons were probably inspired by the banshees in Disney's Darby O'Gill and the Little People. At a later date, producer Small added songs and the film was rereleased as a musical.[13]

According to imdb.com, the film went unreleased in the UK until 1967 and even then received cuts for an 'A' (now a PG) certificate to edit the witch attack on the ship, Princess Elaine being attacked by the giant, and Jack's fight with the dragon. Versions that were shown on UK television in the early 1990s had further cuts in the scene where Jack kills Cormoran with a scythe, rendering the scene almost unintelligible. It has since been shown uncut on Channel 4 and The Sci-Fi Channel.